Into the Night
by Infinitish
Summary: She was unable to let go, unable to give up, unable to accept that she had been left alone by the only people that had mattered in her world. Then everything changed. - or, Ana Lewis, from a mourning woman to the Baroness. One-shot with mentions of Ana/Duke.


**Into the Night**

* * *

"Yes."

She'd said yes. Ana Lewis had accepted Duke's proposal. She'd agreed to marry him, to be with him through thick and thin, for worse or for better. And then she had made Duke promise.

The days after that night seemed to all blend together as she waited for the moment that he would finally be back. Duke would come back, hand in hand with her brother Rex and they'd be exhausted after their days on the battlefield but they'd both be happy to see her again. The two most important men in her life, laughing over some inside joke from the past couple days. It would be a day she would treasure her entire lifetime.

It was a day that never did arrive.

What did arrive was a military official at her door informing of Rex's death, recounting the incidence for her benefit. That was when she broke down, slid down the door and sat on the floor with tears ruining the minimal make-up and wetting Ana's blonde hair. It was supposed to be one of the best days of her life. It turned out to be the worst.

Duke hadn't kept his promise. He had broken it! Duke, her fiance had broke her promise. How dare he? She loved him; he'd said he loved her too! She had given him one thing to do, one small favor because she'd known - she'd thought - that he would be able to keep the promise. He'd let Rex die, and from what the official said, Duke had seen it with his own eyes. How dare he?

And then the funeral was held and it was just her and two or three others and everything was so blurry that she didn't even remember who they were and she probably didn't even remember what had happened. It was just her and the burnt black body of the only family she had left in the world.

Duke had never showed his face to her again. Sometimes she thought maybe if he came back, and let her cry on his shoulder, and comforted her into their own litte world maybe she would forgive him. She loved him. After the initial stage of anger bubbling through every fiber in her body, she had decided that he _would _come back, and she _would _take him back.

He never came.

Not so much as a message, a voicemail, a letter - nothing. And the days blurred together again, meshing together like wires until she could not distinguish what was night and what was day - she spent both of those on her bed thinking about nothing and and everything. Those were the worst weeks of Ana's life, and she soon came to terms with the fact that every remaining day of her living was worse than the previous. She was unable to let go, unable to give up, unable to accept that she had been left alone by the only people that had mattered in her world.

Then everything changed.

It was well into the night, and her bedside lamp was still on. She'd cried herself to sleep - again. Ana could clearly recall a rough hand waking her up hastily, covering her mouth and carrying her out of her house. After that she had been drugged, and then she had woken up with a clearer head than she had had in days.

However, her head wasn't the only thing that had cleared itself: her heart felt empty, as though somehow someone had sucked the emotion out of it. There were still her memories in her brain, but she found herself knowing of a wall that separated them into necessary and expendable. The expendable memories were unreachable - every time she tried to access them, it would feel as though every nerve in her head were on fire. It hurt too much.

She was still Ana Lewis, alright. But she discovered, slowly unearthing the newer necessary memories, that she wouldn't be so any longer. She would attend charity dinners and the likes and accidentally come into conversation with a certain rich scientist. And come next year, she would be Anastascia DeCobray - the Baroness.

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**a/n**: Hey guys! Loooong time no see, especially on this account. I used my secondary account (_enigmatish_) for a while but now I'm mostly going to be using this :)

So this is my first non-HP fic in ages. I saw Rise of the Cobra the other day and just _had _to write it. Please let me know if you liked it! Would mean a lot :)

And please don't favourite without reviewing, if you can :)

Thanks!

- Isha (_infinitish_)


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